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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · rest · spring · snap · land · track · nail · wake

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. cold — not warm
  4. spring — a coil
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. track — a path
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. land — a country
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. wake — a trail
  11. spring — the season
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. track — to keep track
  16. spring — of water
  17. land — ground
  18. rest — what's left
  19. land — to come down
  20. track — a song
  21. snap — to click
  22. rest — a break
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. rest — what's left

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com